Can someone give me a brief history of bartending?

Question

I need information for a paper I am doing on the history of bartending, or I need to know where I can find the information.

Answer 1

A tough question as bar keeping is an individual activity. Try this, hope it helps.

in a land far far away while taking a shortcut through the meadow a raven haired girl accidentally dropped a bunch of ripe grapes and a carving knife into a patch of wild mushrooms.

The yeast from the mushrooms began to ferment the sweetness of the grapes with much help from the yellow ball of fire in the sky. The next day the girl retraced her steps to locate her lost carving knife and once found realized she dropped her grapes as well as it were. She decided to rest for a spell, partake of some grapes, and watch white puffs dance in the sky. She felt warm and loved. Later, the clan medicine woman noticed a change in the girl’s manner and sought answers. The secret of alcohol is born then used in ceremonies, celebrations, worship, and medicine for many years to come. All live happily ever after.

Of course no one knows when, how, or who first discovered alcohol, but scientists and archeologists tell us that it dates back to 7000 B.C. And of course if you’re a believer of the Lost Continent then it goes back even further.


What we do know is that humans are social beings and social gathering structures have been part of daily life for a long time. The Greeks had symposiums for the intellectual upper class; frescos show men reclining being served food and wine while playing games. And flute girls and various entertaining acts roamed the room.




The Romans were less formal due to so much traveling and actually preferred setting up portable tavernae (taverns). Soon permanent tavernae were built on all roads that Roman troops traveled. All roads lead to Rome!
Barmaids served soldiers wine, food, music, and danced. And if a soldier so desired, they were lead to rooms with harlots. Roman troops also carried grapevines with them on every journey to make wine on the road.



England began creating their own taverns and since grapes didn’t grow well in their area they made ale. Soon taverns were found in every town with women given the responsibility of making the beer and wine because it was considered an extension of bread making.



Taverns, inns, and public drinking houses (pubs), ale-houses, and tap rooms pretty much stayed the same from the 1000’s to the 1700’s. All had fireplaces for warmth, lanterns for light, furniture for sitting, and lots of drink while discussing current events, complaining about the weather, telling stories, and making wagers.



It’s mind boggling to think about the many hats a tavern keeper and his ale-wife had to wear. They had to own land in which to grow carbs to make beer, wine, mead, and cider as well as food for guests. Tend farm animals and a garden. They provided rooms and stables to house traveling guests and their horses. And they also had to be literate enough to keep books, bills, and collect payments due as well as manage the hired help. To multitask, a kitchen dog was placed in a wheel called a turnspit dog and the dog would walk inside the wheel turning the meat as it roasted over the fire. Tavern floors were often made of sand and it was common to have a portcullis gate around the bar area. For wagering, there was the tavern puzzle jug, which was a drinking jug with several holes with only one working hole to drink from. So the tavern keeper was the barkeeper as well as many other keepers. Maybe that’s where the term, He’s a Keeper comes from?





We know what taverns, pubs, and drinking houses looked like in the 1600’s because Dutch artist Jan Steen painted many daily life scenes on the subject. After viewing his paintings you begin to realize that drinking houses basically had the same things we have today; alcohol, drinking vessels, tables, chairs, music, flirting, fire, food, laughter, games, gambling and even a tavern keeper flairing a longpour from a wine jug into a Martini shaped glass. However, there were a few differences; lots of children, messes, dogs, cats, chicks, and pigs. Hmmmmmm, on second thought, maybe not.






The 1800’s were magical years for bar keeps, barmaids, and bar-tenders in bars, pubs, taverns, saloons, and inns across America. The times brought on civilized behavior with new technological advances. One could order a Sling, Grog, Flip, Sazerac, Manhattan, Rob Roy, Toddy, Tom Collins, Cobbler, Crusta, Smash, Sour, and more. Popular spirits and mixers were, beer, wine, cider, whiskey, apple brandy, applejack, gin, rum, bitters, egg whites, port, absinthe, amaretto, rye, Scotch, Bacardi, mint, vermouth, soda water, brandy, anisette, sherry, syrups, juices, Southern Comfort (known then as Cuff & Buttons), Jack Daniel’s, and Coca-Cola. The position of a bar-tender, even though blue collar, was seen as aristocracy of the working class. In those days you had to be a bartender apprentice for several years before you could be a bar-tender. The first known celebrity bartender was Jerry Thomas. Jerry learned the craft in New Haven, Connecticut then traveled to West to San Francisco. He then traveled back East to New York and opened four saloons. The first one can still be seen at Broadway and Ann Street below the Barnum’s Museum. After that he traveled and worked as a head bartender in St. Louis, San Francisco, Chicago, Charleston, SC, and New Orleans. With a set of solid silver bar tools he set sail for England and France. Thomas published, How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion in 1862 and then the first bartender guide, The Bar-Tender’s Guide or How To Mix All Kinds of Plain and Fancy Drinks in 1887. He was considered the world's first flair mixologist because he created a cocktail called the Blue Blazer in which he poured a flaming drink back and forth from cup to cup.




By the early 1900’s most saloons were owned by the breweries. Barkeeps made $10-$15 dollars a week with Sunday being the busiest. Drink making was appreciated and bar-tending was turned into an art form.The Waldorf-Astoria in NYC set the standard for quality classic cocktails. Some states had already made the sale of alcohol illegal, but the booze business was going strong. No one had any idea of the enormous changes that were just around the corner. Then on January 16, 1920 at one minute past midnight, Prohibition started. By nationwide law, it was prohibited to manufacture, import, export, or sell alcoholic beverages (exceptions being medical and religious). This created a booming business for bootleggers and their moonshine, but also created a dark underworld of organized crime (Mafia), homemade hooch (bathtub gin) and secret bars called Speakeasies. There were over 100,000 speakeasies in Manhattan alone during prohibition (1920-1933). Bartenders that weren’t afraid to risk a temporary job due to raids were forced to create new cocktails to mask the nasty burn of the bootlegged moonshine, so honey, sugar, juices, egg whites vermouth, and bitters, were commonly found behind bars. Canada, Cuba, and Mexico’s alcohol business benefited from prohibition from whiskey, rum, tequila, and tourists. And NASCAR was concieved from bootleggers building powerful automobile engines to outrun the law through the Appalachian Mountains to run their moonshine.


After prohibition, American bartenders were able to use quality spirits again, but the good bartenders that knew how to make drinks before prohibition were far and few between. Some had died or were too old and couldn’t remember. On December 5th, 1933, at 3:32 pm. (the day of the repeal), it’s been said that only one out of ten bartenders knew how to bartend. Bartenders were searched for everywhere, even imported. It was then that people realized that much training and practice was in order to develop the skill of drink making again in America. Thank goodness England and France’s bartenders could lend a helping hand!

More can be found at the link.

Answer 2

once upon a time a guy had to satisfy women, so he theory making beverages should be with a purpose to satisfy plenty and a large number of girls. and that is how bartending began...and they lived sloshed each after.